Minnesota trash pickup is run by cities, counties and private haulers, not by the state, and your pickup day comes from your city’s or hauler’s own lookup. Among the largest cities, Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Rochester collect curbside themselves. Minnesota has a PaintCare paint drop-off program, an electronics recycling law and a ban on yard waste in landfills, but no statewide bottle deposit or mattress program.
Find your city
- Minneapolis — garbage and organics weekly on the same day, recycling every other week.
- Saint Paul — coordinated collection for 1–4 unit homes. Bulky rules changed July 1, 2026; mattresses go through Second Chance Recycling and do not count against the 12-item quota. Recycling is billed on the Ramsey County property-tax statement.
Other large cities and their official collection pages:
- Rochester: Olmsted County (the city says the county manages garbage and recycling services for Rochester residents). Residents hire a hauler licensed by Olmsted County; only licensed Class A haulers may collect garbage and recycling in the county. Official page ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in Minnesota
- Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling — municipal department
- Saint Paul Public Works — municipal department, coordinated collection
- Each Minnesota county runs a household hazardous waste program; some have year-round sites and others seasonal sites or events, so check your county’s website. Source ↗
- Some Minnesota cities use open collection, where residents choose and hire their own garbage hauler, while others use organized collection managed by local government. Source ↗
- Materials separated for recycling must be recycled: haulers cannot throw them away and disposal facilities may not accept them. Source ↗
National haulers (Republic Services, WM, Waste Connections) hold contracts in many places; the city or county names the hauler for each street.
State-level rules
- Container deposit: No statewide container deposit law. NCSL counts ten states and Guam with beverage container deposit systems, and Minnesota is not one of them. Source ↗
- Paint: Minnesota is on the PaintCare roster. PaintCare has run Minnesota’s paint stewardship program since November 2014, with the MPCA as oversight agency. See paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: No statewide mattress take-back program. Bye Bye Mattress runs only in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: CRT devices have been banned from mixed municipal solid waste since 2006, and makers of TVs and monitors must register and support collection and recycling of household electronics. Source ↗
- Yard waste: Banned from landfills statewide. State law bars yard waste from mixed municipal solid waste and disposal facilities, in the metropolitan area since 1990 and in the rest of the state since 1992. Source ↗
- Saint Paul’s free mattress pickup through Second Chance Recycling is a city partnership with the Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy Center, not a state program. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Resource Management and Assistance Division. The MPCA’s Resource Management and Assistance Division oversees solid waste and recycling programs, awards grants for recycling and pollution-prevention innovations and gives technical help to local governments. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: MPCA registered electronics collection sites by county ↗
- Contact: 800-657-3864
Flag of Minnesota. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: Original: Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission, Vector: Jamie Eilat, Undertiago. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Neighboring states
Iowa · North Dakota · South Dakota · Wisconsin
Sources
Official pages used: pca.state.mn.us · pca.state.mn.us · pca.state.mn.us · minneapolismn.gov · minneapolismn.gov · stpaul.gov · stpaul.gov · stpaul.maps.arcgis.com · rochestermn.gov · olmstedcounty.gov · ncsl.org · paintcare.org · byebyemattress.com · pca.state.mn.us · revisor.mn.gov · stpaul.gov · pca.state.mn.us · pca.state.mn.us · pca.state.mn.us.
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